


I'll be home for Christmas

by Swen and Chill (anotherouatwriter)



Series: Baby, it's cold outside. [15]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Mentions of H00s, Mentions of past CS and OQ but just mentions, SQ is endgame, angst with happy ending, countdown to christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 19:10:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8857408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherouatwriter/pseuds/Swen%20and%20Chill
Summary: Canon divergence: Emma goes alone to the Underworld and her trip back takes longer than expected.





	

No one has seen Emma since she went to the Underworld to get Killian back.

The last time anyone saw her was when the Savior climbed into the boat and forbid anyone to follow her by using her magic to make sure they'll all stay behind, in Storybrooke, where it was safe.

Regina did not wave her goodbye. She yelled at Emma, all kinds of insults that crossed her mind. And she stayed there after the boat and Emma disappeared, rooted to the spot. Even when the spell broke and the Charmings tried and failed to summon the boat again. Even when everyone left, Regina still stayed by the water, with tears in her eyes and a stabbing pain in her heart which she didn't fully understand until many months later.

That was five years ago.

The pain of Emma's departure didn't lessen; they just learned to live with it. They learned to give each other space when someone was feeling bad, and they had a silent agreement to never say her name out loud. Even Henry stopped talking about her, especially when Regina looked at her apple tree and rubbed her chest.

Robin decided to marry Zelena, and Regina didn't feel anything. Not sadness because Robin left her. Not anger because Zelena stole her soulmate. She didn't feel anything about Robin anymore. Just feelings of sadness and nostalgia and those melancholic ' _what-ifs_ ' that could have been associated being with Emma and that haunted her at night.

It was worse during holidays, because it was the time to be surrounded by family. They still celebrated at Regina's house because there were less memories tied to Emma than there was at the loft.

Another Christmas's Eve has come and gone, and Regina found herself putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Snow had offered to help out but she sent her and Charming home. They had two babies to put to sleep and Regina liked loading the dishwasher. It gave her time to think, mainly about Emma.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered the blonde. She hated holidays. She hated that Emma left to find Killian. She left her. It took her years to understand it, but now she knew. She loved Emma.

A knock on the door brings Regina back to reality. It's probably David, coming to pick up something his wife left behind. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, because no one has to see her like this, even though they all cry when they are alone.

Nothing could have prepared her for the figure that her eyes saw when she opened the door.

She felt the wind getting knocked out of her as she took in the person who just knocked on the door.

Emma looks more grown-up, not older, but mature. Exhausted could not cover how Emma looked; she looked as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. But when she saw Regina, her chapped lips changed from a straight line into a smile.

"Emma..." Regina manages to say in a whisper, afraid this being a dream induced by the Christmas spirit and movies Henry had been watching with her and any sound will wake her up. "How...?"

The blonde takes a step closer and places a hand against Regina's cheek. "I found Killian," she says as she caresses Regina's cheek and it takes a lot of self-restraint for Regina not to kick Emma out of the house. "Hades told me to kiss Killian and think of home. If Killian was my one true love, then by the time I opened my eyes I'd be back in Storybrooke with him."

Emma was rambling, just as she used to do. And Regina doesn't know how to feel, not when she still doesn't know what happened to Killian and if Emma feels the same way that she does. Regina wants to be angry and she wants to punch and punch and punch Emma. But she couldn't. Because Emma was here, Emma was alive.

"But when I kissed him," Emma swallowed, "I could only think of you, and when I thought about home I could only think about your arms around me. And that's when I understood that he was not the one for me. It was you. It had always been you and would always be you. Hades told me there was no shortcut getting out, not if Hook was not my true love. He told me that I had to walk the long way around. So I started walking. And I didn't stop. Not until I got here, to you."

Tears started building up in Regina's eyes, but for the first time in what felt a lifetime, they were happy tears.

"Emma..." she started but Emma didn't let her finish.

"I know... I know five years have passed, and that I'm probably a stranger to you, and that you could be married to Robin by now." Regina could see that the words hurt the blonde as she spoke them. "But I needed to tell you. I needed you to know, that the only thing that kept me walking was my son and his stubborn, fierce, beautiful mother."

"Emma Swan, just shut up and kiss me."

And finally, _finally_ the orphan had found her forever home.


End file.
